CUSPIDOR Definition & Meaning

cuspidor

[ kuhs-pi-dawr ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a large bowl, often of metal, serving as a receptacle for spit, especially from chewing tobacco: in wide use during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

cuspidor

/ ˈ��ʌ��ɪˌ��ɔː /

noun

another word (esp US) for spittoon

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of cuspidor¹

1770–80; < Portuguese: literally, spitter, equivalent to cusp ( ir ) to spit (≪ Latin conspuere to cover with spit; con- con- + spuere to spit ¹ ) + -idor < Latin -��-��ō��ܳ�; -i-, -tory ²

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of cuspidor¹

C18: from Portuguese, from cuspir to spit, from Latin conspuere, from spuere to spit

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Time after time, single-handed and on her hands and knees, she emptied all the cuspidors and scrubbed down the lobby of Grand Central Station.

From

Flies may carry the virus if they are allowed to frequent cuspidors into which consumptives have expectorated.

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To avoid bloating from the hundreds of sips in a day, he would use chrome-plated cuspidors.

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A corps of janitors had been active for two days introducing folding chairs, cuspidors, tables and wastebaskets.

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Directly behind me, as I was soon made aware, was a cuspidor, toward which the President turned the flow of tobacco juice.

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